Extracurricular
by DBShaw
Summary: Hermione loves being Head Girl, it's just the Head Boy and his best friend she's not too fond of. She wonders if there'll ever come a time when they all learn to get along. Written for the Hawthorn & Vine reverse challenge, rated for language and themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"It was only eight sickles from that shop on the high street that's shutting down, it was a _bargain,_" Hermione said. She held up a brown silk nightdress with cream lace trimming and handed it to Ginny. "What do you think?"

"I think that I am somewhat disturbed by the fact that you are showing me a nightie which you have no doubt bought for the benefit of my _brother,_" Ginny said, pulling a face at thought. "Also, the fact that you used the word _bargain_ in such an enthusiastic tone is a worrying sign that you need to get out more."

Hermione's cheeks flushed and she stuffed the nightdress back into its bag. "It-was-_not_-bought-for-the-benefit-of-your-brother-Ginny-Weasley," she said, and lightly slapped her friend's hand. "As you know fine well."

"It's too easy to make you squirm" Ginny said with a grin before standing to her feet. "I'll get the drinks in." Ginny went to the bar and returned a few minutes later with two uncorked bottles of Butterbeer which she placed on the table.

"Thanks, Gin," said Hermione.

"Oi, Granger!"

Hermione frowned and Ginny turned her head to see where the shout had come from, soon frowning as well at the tall, broad, black Slytherin who was making his way over to their table.

"Why me?" Hermione asked Ginny, only getting a shrug of the shoulders in response.

"If you're done flashing your knickers about can I have a word?" said Blaise Zabini, looking down at the two Gryffindor girls as he reached their table.

Hermione scowled and looked up at the source of her annoyance. "No, you cannot have a word; I am talking to my friend. Surely it can wait until I get back to our common room, can't it?"

_Our_ common room. The phrase still burned her with annoyance. When she had received her letter telling her who the Head Boy would be, she had quickly come to the conclusion that the teachers had either gone mad or Professor Snape had them all under an Imperius Curse. Professor McGonagall had confirmed the decision in response to Hermione's frantically written owl. '_It has been agreed that Mr. Zabini is the perfect choice for Head Boy. His marks have been excellent, he has a perfect attendance record, has never been involved in any major rule-breaking incidents and is involved with extracurricular activities._' Thus far, the only extracurricular activities Hermione had ever seen Blaise involved with were the amount of girls she had seen brought back to their common room and subsequently up to his room. If this had been the way Zabini had behaved all the way through their previous six years at Hogwarts, it _almost_ made her feel sorry for the Slytherins who had been forced to share a room with him.

Hermione had tried to persuade Ron to be furious about the decision, but Ron hadn't really cared much. He argued that he and Harry would still get perks from Hermione, without having to do the work. Harry had been equally unruffled and said that he had other things to worry about. Hermione knew this to be true, but that didn't stop her from being annoyed about it.

"What do you want, Zabini?" Ginny asked the Slytherin Head Boy.

"All I was going to say was that I am heading back to the castle and if you wanted me to, I would take that heavy looking bag back for you," he said and pointed to a bag on the floor at Hermione's feet. "However, since it appears you are much more interested in showing everyone in the pub your new sex clothes, I'll leave you to it." With that, he turned and left the Three Broomsticks, leaving Hermione to put her elbow on the table and cradle her head in her hands.

She looked to Ginny and sighed "Do you believe for a second that that was what he wanted?"

"Not in the least," said Ginny taking a drink of her Butterbeer.

"Good, I'm glad it's not just me. He's been such a nightmare, Ginny," said Hermione "From the minute we had to start sharing a common room, it's been sexual innuendos between every other word; having to put up with him and Malfoy sneaking Firewhisky into the castle and… actually, no, that pretty much sums him up. Did I tell you I had to soundproof his door? I wasn't getting any sleep."

"Yes, you told me, and not that I'm unwilling to listen when you need to have a Zabini-based rant, but I have to tell you, Hermione…" Ginny paused, then sighed before continuing. "You don't half complain about him a lot."

* * *

Hermione scowled as she entered the shared common room and placed her bag onto her favourite armchair. Blaise was sat in front of the fireplace with a glass of what she presumed to be Firewhisky immediately to his left and that day's Daily Prophet folded at the puzzle page. "Why did you have to do that?" she said "Why do you feel the need to go out of your way to embarrass me in public?"

Not looking up from his newspaper, Blaise filled in some letters on the crossword he was working on. "Do what, exactly?"

"You know what, don't play dumb."

"Granger, I swear, I came to ask you if you wanted me to take back your bag for you, it looked heavy and I was just trying to be friendly." He wrote another word into the blank boxes, but he must have perceived Hermione's glare through the paper, because he lowered it and sighed. "Alright, I apologise for commenting on your sexy nightie, that was rude of me. Can we go back to living in peace now?"

"I give up, said Hermione and she collapsed into her armchair. "Look, I have a meeting with the Gryffindor prefects before breakfast tomorrow, is there any chance you could give the Hogwarts Bedroom Olympics a miss tonight?"

He sighed and put the newspaper down on the sofa next to him, then lifted his glass and took a sip. "Granger, what is it exactly that bothers you about me so much? Is it my very active social life, or the fact that I get good marks in my lessons despite my active social life?"

"Oh _piss off_, Zabini," she said. "I have never in my life known someone as infuriating as you."

"You know what I think? I think that you _like_ having me around; I think you like having someone to complain about," said Blaise with a smirk.

"Would it be a detrimental blow to your ego to discover that I don't spend all my time talking about _you_?"

"Ah, it's love's young dream," said a voice from the portrait hole.

Hermione turned her head to see Draco Malfoy standing in the open doorway and groaned internally. "_Second _most infuriating," she said. Malfoy seemed to be the only other person who was bothered by his friend being made Head Boy and that was only because he wanted the position for himself. Hermione wondered sometimes if they had skipped over Malfoy to avoid their being at each others' throats all the time.

"Careful now, Granger, you'll only make him jealous if he's not your favourite Slytherin," said Malfoy as he crossed the room and placed a full bottle of Firewhisky next to his friend.

"We're supposed to behave tonight," said Blaise, summoning over an additional glass. "She's got a _meeting_ in the morning and we disturb her."

Draco smirked and pulled his face into an expression of mock-concern. "You mean if we don't behave there could be consequences? _Severe_ consequences?"

Blaise covered his mouth with his hand and looked at Hermione. "She could even…" he paused for what Hermione presumed was dramatic effect, "_…scold_ us."

The blonde Slytherin gasped, then smirked and poured himself a glass of Firewhisky to match his friend's. "How ever will we recover from a scolding?"

"I _hate_ you two," said Hermione, as she stood to her feet and marched across the room to head up to her room whilst the two Slytherins clutched their chests feigning hurt and shock.

Hermione had spent thirty minutes in her room with her books, rigorously outlining what she needed to go over with the Gryffindor prefects. Work had calmed her down and she had decided not to play into the hands of the two chuckle brothers in the common room; it only livened them more when she was vexed.

She wanted to colour-code the assignments, but then realised the new bottles of coloured ink she'd bought were still in her shopping bag down the stairs. Sighing, she got up to go and retrieve her bag. She entered her shared common room to find Zabini and Malfoy rolling about on the floor, holding their stomachs and trying to breathe through their laughter. She noticed that the Firewhisky bottle was now half depleted and her shopping bag was on its side, the contents strewn about the room. She sucked in her cheeks as she saw Malfoy scrunching her brown, silk nightdress in one hand, waving it in front of Blaise.

"It must be virgin-chique," said Malfoy. "You think dust rags get Weaselbee's blood pumping?"

Suppressing the dry lump in her throat, Hermione calmly walked across the room. Noticing her presence, the two Slytherins stopped laughing and watched as she calmly picked up the three bottles of ink next to her shopping bag and left the room as quietly as she has entered it. She could not hear laughing as she returned to her room, but she made a mental note to dispose of the nightdress first thing in the morning.

"That was weird" said Blaise as Draco topped up their glasses with the Firewhisky bottle.

"What was?" asked Draco, placing the bottle back onto the table and picking up his glass.

Blaise scratched the back of his shaved head and looked to the stairway which the Head Girl had disappeared through, a few minutes prior. "Well, normally, she'd say something, wouldn't she?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders then downed half the contents of his glass. "Maybe we hurt her poor little feelings. Do Mudbloods have feelings?"

"Shit, I'm going to have to apologise," said Blaise, before taking a long drink from his glass.

"Have you gone mental?" asked Draco. "You can't _apologise_, it goes against every fundamental principle a Slytherin has."

"Look, you don't have to live in this room," said Blaise. "I can handle screaming, I can handle crying, easily take on howlers or hurling hexes, but brooding, silent fury is far too deadly to fuck with."

"She'll be _fine_, she'll spend the afternoon slagging us off with the Weaslette and move onto duller things," Draco paused and smirked. "Like Weaselbee's dick for example."

"I do not like the mental imagery that sentence just conjured."

"I think you're getting soft in your old age," said Draco.

"The only time I go soft is after a fuck-a-thon," said Blaise.

Draco threw the Firewhisky bottle at him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

When Blaise had got up the morning after his and Draco's drinking session he discovered two things. The first was that he had run out of hangover potion. The second was that Hermione's nightdress was scrumpled into the waste paper bin in the corner of the common room. Hermione had already left for breakfast, so he retrieved it in order to remove the label.

He spent most of the day trying to find her in order to apologise for the previous night, but every time he reached a place someone had sworn blind they'd seen her, she was already gone. It was almost as if she had some way of knowing where he was heading, so she could avoid him.

By the end of lessons, he gave up and went to the owlery to borrow Draco's owl; there was only so much the Head Girl could do to avoid him and she had no idea how persistent he could be.

* * *

Hermione congratulated herself at the breakfast table. She had managed to spend much of the previous day avoiding Zabini and Malfoy, thanks to the loan of Harry's map. Not that Malfoy had bothered to come near her much, but Zabini had seemed like her shadow for much of the day.

She spread a helping of lemon curd onto her toast and glanced over to the Slytherin table. Malfoy was eating his breakfast and ignoring Pansy Parkinson, who was chattering in his ear. Zabini was pushing his spoon around a cereal bowl and looking directly at her. She quickly lowered her gaze to her toast as the morning owls flew into the great hall.

A large, brown owl landed on her plate, causing her to swallow a half-chewed piece of toast in surprise. The owl had a large package wrapped in brown paper and hooted at her before taking off again. As she leant over to read the label, Ron pointed at the parcel and tried to speak with a mouthful of toast.

"Whoof sen' you tha', 'Mione?"

She shrugged her shoulders as she inspected the label, which was written in long, looping letters in blue ink; '_Hermione Granger, Gryffindor House, Hogwarts._' She picked it up and turned it in her hands until she found another label which said; '_Madam Malkin's, Owl order service._'

Ginny leant towards Hermione and read the label over her shoulder. She quirked her eyebrow and asked, "How the hell can you afford stuff from Madam Malkin's?" She paused and frowned slightly. "No offence, I just mean they're really expensive."

"It's ok," said Hermione "I knew what you meant, Gin. I _can't_ afford Madam Malkin's; I didn't order anything."

"That means it's a present!" said Ginny, with an excited gleam in her eyes. "Quick, open it and find out who it's from and why they want to get into your knickers."

Ron looked at his sister indignantly. "How do you know it's not from her parents?"

Ignoring her fellow Gryffindors, Hermione undid the string on her parcel and peeled back the brown paper, finding a blue gift box underneath, she lifted the lid and found a hand written note resting on top of the tissue paper.

'_Granger,_

_I'm sorry. _

_Blaise._'

Ron cocked his head and tried reading Hermione's note. "Why's Zabini sending you presents?"

Hermione ignored him and parted the tissue paper to find a midnight blue night dress with white lace trimmings resting beneath. She gasped and cautiously fingered the material as Ginny nearly poked her in the eye to join her in touching the dress.

"Bloody _hell!_" said Ginny. "That looks sickeningly expensive; tall, dark and bald must be _really_ sorry."

Hermione looked over to the Slytherin table to see that the Head Boy had already slipped out of the Great Hall without her noticing. "Well, I'm not keeping it!" said Hermione. "He can't buy me."

Ron looked murderous as Hermione folded back the tissue paper and replaced the lid on the box. "Why is Zabini buying you nightwear?"

"Oh would you drop it, Ron?" said Ginny.

Hermione didn't notice Malfoy looking over at the scene playing out on her table or the glare he was giving the whole situation.

Breakfast continued as normal, until the screaming started.

* * *

Madam Pince had to be sedated and taken to the hospital wing. Peeves was in the library and had apparently spent most of the night rearranging it into a maze of bookcases and stacks of books, all in alphabetical order by the first word of the book. Madam Pince had tried to kill him.

The teachers had asked Hermione and Blaise to gather together the Prefects while Professor McGonagall went to the Bloody Baron to ask him to get Peeves under control. The poltergeist refused to leave the library, apparently very proud of his work, and kept throwing dictionaries at the gathered students.

"Look, Blaise," said Pansy Parkinson, "I'm sure you're all more than capable of handling this situation without me and I've got double Charms so I'm going to just leave you to it."

Pansy stood up to leave, but Blaise caught her wrist and pulled her back. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Get your hands off me!" said Pansy, pulling her wrist from Blaise's grasp. "I'm _going_."

Draco sighed and pointed in the direction that Pansy was sauntering down the corridor. "I could probably get her back if you want me to, mate."

Blaise shook his head "Nah, leave it. We'll probably get more done without her, anyway."

It was decided that Harry and Ron would attempt to distract Peeves and draw his attention whilst the others spread across the library and cast sorting charms on the maze of books. Harry wasn't actually supposed to be there since Professor McGonagall had insisted that only the Prefects were allowed to skip their lessons, but Hermione was glad of the extra pair of hands. It seemed pointless to Hermione to even attempt reorganising the library while Peeves was still in it, but it had been made clear that they were to make a start. Hermione had managed to successfully sneak past the poltergeist with the aid of Harry's distractions and slowly started making her way to the back of the library.

Weaving slowly through the maze of leather bound texts, Hermione found herself in what had formerly been the section dedicated to the history of the goblin wars and now looked like the complex network of Hogwarts staircases which moved back and forth randomly. She stared in amazement as the books moved and was so fascinated that when a hand came to rest on her shoulder, she literally jumped into the air. She turned and saw Blaise grinning at her and it took a great deal of self restraint from hexing him into oblivion. "_Don't_ do that!" she said and smacked him hard on the arm.

"Ow!" said Blaise, rubbing his arm where Hermione had hit him. He pouted, sticking out his lower lip. "I only wanted to ask if you got my present."

"Yes I did," she said. "Very amusing. I'll give it back to you, once we've sorted this mess out."

"Well, it wasn't really supposed to be funny," said Blaise. "It was supposed to be me making up for the other night."

"Zabini, I am not one the girls you bring back to your room. You can't buy me with pretty things or impress me with the size of your bank balance," she said, turning to move out of his way.

Blaise moved around her and blocked her path with his arm. "It's not the size of my bank balance that impresses them."

Hermione folded her arms across her chest and smiled in spite of herself. "You are unbelievable."

He smirked and cocked his head to one side. "I really am sorry about the other night. Consider the night dress a peace offering. I just think it would be nice if we got on a little better."

"So you want to be friends now?"

"Well, I'm not saying I want to stay up all night, talking about boys and plating each others' hair," he said, smiling and running his hand over his shaved head.

Hermione laughed "Maybe we could just come to some sort of arrangement over your activities in our common room. You're a lot more tolerable when Malfoy isn't there and you don't have a bottle of Firewhisky glued to your hand."

"Wow, Granger, that was almost a compliment," said Blaise, as he pointed to the moving books next to them. "I'll get started with this lot; we'll work out the details later, ok?"

"Ok" she said and slipped past the tall, black wizard and began making her way through the stacks again. Hermione didn't notice the flash of blonde hair as Draco Malfoy slipped out of the shadows and started following her through the maze of books.

Hermione neared what had been the Restricted Section at the back of the library. All the book shelves had been upturned and were leaning precariously against one another like a half-toppled set of dominoes. She peered through one of the more stable looking bookcases and wondered where Peeves had put all the books. She sighed and cautiously began moving through the leaning shelves, not aware that Draco was walking but a few steps behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Hermione ducked her head as she walked under the leaning bookshelf. She knew she had to find the start of the domino pile, so she could safely undo Peeves' handiwork. With her face only a few feet from the ground, she could see a cluster of woodlice scuttling around the floor. It wasn't that she had a fear of woodlice; she just couldn't stand them. The sight of them made her skin crawl and she shuddered, drawing her wand to blow the tiny insects well out of her way.

"_Granger!_"

She turned on her heel to find Draco Malfoy almost face to face with her. She gasped and took a couple of steps backwards. "What are you doing back here?" she asked. "You're supposed to be helping Hannah."

"We need to talk," he said. "We need to talk about Blaise."

"I don't have time for this," said Hermione, as she turned away from the blonde Slytherin.

Draco followed after Hermione as she ducked her head further and entered another tunnel of bookcases. "You'll bloody well make time, Granger."

Hermione looked around, trying to find any spot of light which might indicate where the tunnel ended. Seeing a shaft of light, she turned and sighed. "Just go back to where you're supposed to be, Malfoy."

"Don't order me around, _Mudblood._"

"You know, calling me that lost its effect about four years ago, _ferret boy_."

He took a step forward and pointed his index finger in her face. "You're a bitch, Granger."

Hermione batted away his hand and smiled a little as it bounced off a bookshelf. "Well, _you're_ an insufferable prat."

"Filth!"

"Wanker!"

He scowled and pushed his face towards hers. "Jumped up, bushy-haired, know-it-all, with smaller tits than a first-year!"

Hermione scowled back and pushed the Slytherin away with her fingers. "Dumbed-down, preening rich boy, with an _extreme_ likelihood for man-boobs in your paid-for-and-fattened-up-by-Daddy future!"

"Bloody hell, did you just call me a preening rich boy?"

Hermione started to laugh. She wasn't sure why she now found the situation funny, but Malfoy's semi-shocked expression caused her to hold her stomach and bend over in fits of giggles.

"What's so funny?" asked Draco, becoming more frustrated as he watched the Gryffindor Head Girl laugh harder. "I command you to tell me why you are laughing."

"Are there a couple of ickle mices in my maze?"

Hermione stopped laughing instantly at the sound of Peeves above them somewhere and mouthed '_It's Peeves. Move now!_' Malfoy nodded, then turned and began moving slowly in the direction they'd come, with Hermione following closely behind him.

"Ickle mices are going to get squished!" called Peeves.

Around them they heard a rumble and the shelves began shaking, "Run!" shouted Hermione, but neither student was fast enough, as they had only moved a foot when the large wooden shelving above them fell on top of them.

"What the hell was that noise?" Harry asked Ron at the front of the library.

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "Peeves probably knocked over a few piles of books or something, just be grateful he's giving us a few minutes' rest."

"Oh, thank goodness!" said Harry, pointing to the library doors as the Bloody Baron floated in. "Peeves is back there somewhere!" shouted Harry as he pointed at the back of the library. The ghost didn't respond, but floated in the direction that Harry pointed to.

"That'll make Hermione happy, at least" said Ron.

At the back of the library, half the leaning bookcases had toppled over and Draco and Hermione were pinned beneath.

Draco groaned and tried to move his hand to rub a throbbing lump on his head, but found that his left arm was trapped underneath a bookcase. He wiggled his fingers and a flash of pain shot up his arm. He didn't think it was broken, but it hurt like hell. He blinked his eyes a few times to adjust to the lack of light before he looked around. Granger was to his immediate right, her eyes were closed and she had a cut above one of her eyebrows, from which blood was trickling down her face. "Granger," he said. "_Granger_, wake up!" She groaned but her eyes didn't open. Draco tried moving his right arm as much as he could and pushed the Gryffindor's shoulder. "_Granger_, wake up, you stupid _bint_."

"_Merrr ferrr,_" moaned Hermione.

Draco pushed her shoulder again "Granger!"

Hermione moaned again, her eyelids fluttered and her right arm, which was splayed in front of her, twitched "_Marrrfoy._"

"I swear, Granger, you better wake up, so I can start blaming you for things," said Draco.

Hermione's eyes opened, she blinked a few times and turned her head a little more towards Draco. "Malfoy?"

"Yes, very good, Granger," said Draco. "Are you with me now?"

"What happened?" asked Hermione. She closed her eyes again but Draco shoved her shoulder and she opened them once more.

"Don't fall asleep," said Draco. "Peeves pushed the bookcases over on us, I think; you'll be happy to know, it's all your fault."

Hermione made a small smile. "Same old Malfoy, unbearable in any situation."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Can you move at all? My arm's trapped I can't crawl out of here."

Hermione shuffled a little and winced in pain. "I can't, my legs…" she scrunched her eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again. "They're trapped underneath something. I think they might be broken; they hurt a lot."

Draco frowned as he noticed a few tears spill over the Gryffindor's eyes. "There'll be none of that, Granger. No crying; you Gryffindors are supposed to be brave, so you're going to have to b,e until someone gets us out of here."

"Well," said Hermione. "I've got time to talk to you, now."

* * *

In the infirmary, Madam Pince had woken up and was thrashing about on her bed whilst Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore tried to calm her down and Filch stood a little further back shuffling his feet nervously.

"You _must_ calm down, Irma," said Madam Pomfrey. "The students are organising the library for you, you need to rest."

"The _students_!" shouted Madam Pince. "They're barbarians! They don't know how to handle books properly, they'll _destroy_ them!"

"Irma, Poppy is quite right," said Dumbledore calmly. "You need to rest. Hermione Granger is in charge; she'll make sure that things are done properly."

Madam Pince narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Hermione Granger? Well, I suppose _she_ might make sure things are done properly."

"You see, Irma, things are fine," insisted Madam Pomfrey.

"Maybe I can rest," said Madam Pince, "for a _little_ while at least."

Dumbledore patted her shoulder. "There, Irma, I'll go make sure they're doing things just right while you're resting. Besides, Argus seems very eager to talk to you."

Madam Pomfrey handed the librarian a calming draught, then escorted the Headmaster to the doors of the infirmary. "With you helping the students, it'll take them no time to get everything back to normal."

"Oh I don't think they need me," said Dumbledore, smiling cheerfully at the nurse. "I have the upmost faith in Miss Granger's abilities. I'm sure everything is going swimmingly."

"Yes, you're probably right, Albus," said Madam Pomfrey.

* * *

"You're _insane!_" said Hermione.

"I assure you I'm perfectly sane," said Draco. "You _fancy_ him."

"I do not _fancy_ Blaise Zabini," said Hermione. "I reiterate; you're _insane_."

Draco scoffed. "I _saw_ you talking to him; you were laughing and batting your eyelids like he was a man sized hunk of Honeydukes' finest chocolate."

Hermione protested. "I did no such thing!"

"Oh, please! If Weaselbee had walked in on you, his fragile pauper heart would have shattered into a million little pieces."

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Malfoy," said Hermione. She winced and shut her eyes. "My legs hurt."

"Don't think about your legs and _don't_ close your eyes" he said, as he shoved her in the shoulder again. "Come on, you have to stay awake until they find us."

Hermione moaned and opened her eyes again "What do you care, Malfoy?"

"I don't care," said Draco. "But if you die and they find me here with your corpse, everyone will think I did you in and as much _fun_ it would be trying to convince everyone that I didn't actually do a murder – I think I'd rather save myself the trouble."

"I'm so tired, though" said Hermione and her eyelids fluttered and closed again.

"No, stop that," said Draco, and he shoved her shoulder as hard as he could. "Granger, you have to stay awake, talk to me."

"I hate you," she muttered.

"Well, that's a good start; the feeling's more than mutual, by the way, but you're going to need more than that," said Draco. "Open your _damn_ eyes!"

Hermione opened her eyes. "I _really_ hate you."

"Sing a song for me," said Draco. "That'll keep you awake, sing me a Muggle song."

"I can't sing."

"Do you think I'm recruiting for Wandless Records or something?" asked Draco. "Just sing _something_, you must know at least one Muggle song."

Hermione sighed and Draco shoved her shoulder again. "All right, all right, I'll sing something." Unable to think of anything else, and cursing herself because of it, she started to sing tunelessly, "You put your left foot in, you put left foot out, in-out-in-out, you shake it all about, you do the Hokey-Cokey and you turn around, that's what it's all about."

"_That's_ the pinnacle of Muggle music is it?"

"It's the only thing I could think of," said Hermione. "You put me on the spot."

"You were right, Granger, you can't sing," said Draco with a small smirk. "We'll try something else, tell me a story."

"Do I look like your mother, Malfoy?"

He glared at her, although the effect was lost a little in the dim light. "Don't bring my mother into this."

"Sorry," said Hermione. "Right, you want a story?"

"Just make something up."

"Ok, ok," she said. "Once upon a time there was a Muggle girl…"

"I don't like it," said Draco, interrupting her.

"Shut up, it's my story," she said. "Once upon a time, there was a Muggle girl who had never heard of witches and wizards, until one day an owl landed on her doorstep and handed her a letter inviting her to come to Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft. The little girl was, well, probably a bit overkeen; she just wanted to do well at the school because most of the other boys and girls had wizarding parents and had a much bigger head start than her. She tried very hard at school, but for some reason, a little blonde boy kept picking on her, and started calling her some very nasty names even though the little girl had never done anything to the little blonde boy…."

"I think you're getting the story wrong," said Draco, interrupting again. "Once upon a time, there was a very handsome little blonde boy who started school at the same time as the most famous person in all the wizarding world. The _extremely_ handsome little blonde boy kindly offered to make friends with the famous boy but the famous boy didn't want to know him and was an obnoxious little shit about it. Then a bushy-haired Muggle girl appeared from nowhere and began acting like she knew more about magic than all the teachers in the school which pissed off a lot of people, not just the handsome little blonde boy…"

"Hang on," said Hermione, "The little Muggle girl was very good in her lessons and the _spiteful_ blonde boy would get very uppity when it was pointed out that she got better marks than he did and then he became intolerable when his best friend got the Head Boy position…"

Draco cut Hermione off, "The handsome boy was very happy for his best friend but every time he tried to spend time with him, he found the Muggle girl there, tutting and muttering under her breath. Then the handsome blonde boy found the Muggle girl trying to make friends with his best friend, even though the Muggle girl has plenty of friends of her own without trying to stop the blonde boy from spending any time with his best friend."

"Well, maybe the Muggle girl was very upset over the fact that the blonde boy has been nothing but a shit to her for seven years and was just trying to get on with the Head Boy so she could have five minutes to herself once in a while. The blonde boy could easily invite the Head Boy to go to the Slytherin common room every now and then, if they were going to spend the whole night drinking and taking the piss out of the Muggle girl," said Hermione.

"Well maybe the blonde boy has spent the last seven years putting up with the Muggle girl acting like she's better than everyone else and occasionally wants to take her down a peg or two, because _she_ can in fact be intolerable at times," said Draco.

Hermione sighed. "Well, maybe the Muggle girl and the blonde boy could maybe get over their childhood arguments and learn to get along or maybe just be amicable towards one another, until they leave school and never have to see each other again."

Draco looked at Hermione for two silent minutes before eventually saying, "Maybe they could."

"Maybe they should start from the beginning," said Hermione and moved her hand as close to Draco's as she could. "I'm Hermione."

Draco moved his hand until his fingertips met hers. "Draco."

"This is probably the oddest time in our lives to decide to start getting along, don't you think?"

"Definitely."

"What the hell?" said a voice from outside of the fallen bookcases.

"In here!" shouted Draco "We're in here, Blaise!"

"Draco? Bloody hell, are you trapped somewhere under there?" asked Blaise.

"No, we decided to just stay underneath these bloody heavy bookcases because we liked the view," said Draco. "Of course we're trapped you idiot!"

"There's no need to take that tone," said Blaise.

"Just get Professor Dumbledore or someone; Granger's probably got a broken leg and my arm's pinned," said Draco.

Blaise's voice grew louder. "Granger's in there with you?"

"Blaise, I swear, when I get out from here, I'm going to chin you…"

"Alright, alright, I'm going!" called Blaise.

"My hero," said Draco dryly.

* * *

**Authors note:**

**In this chapter there are two heavily reworded pop-culture references, so heavily reworded they barely resemble the original but I thought I would state them to be on the safe side. They are: Draco's line about honeydukes chocolate (Red Dwarf) and Draco again the bit about 'do a murder' is referencing a Mitchell & Webb film (The Magicians).**

**In the UK we sing the Hokey Cokey, not the Hokey_ Pokey_, pokey seems wrong, very, very, wrong.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Hermione hadn't seen Draco since he had slipped out of the Hospital Wing in the middle of the night without saying a word, much to the annoyance of Madam Pomfrey. Only one of Hermione's legs had been broken, but they had both been pretty badly bruised; the break had been fixed overnight thanks to Madam Pomfrey and she'd been given Arnica potion to sort the bruises out. It had taken two days for the purple blotches to completely fade, and although the cut on her forehead was also gone, Hermione was still getting intermittent headaches. Much to her annoyance, Hermione had been forced by Professor McGonagall to take a couple of days off from her lessons to recuperate. Hermione's insistence that she didn't need any time off fell on deaf ears.

Ginny had stopped by the previous day to let her know that the library was completely back to normal and Peeves was under orders from the Bloody Baron not to go within 100 feet of it in any direction, which had been greatly hindering Peeves' normal activities, and he was now sulking in the dungeons.

She sat in her favourite armchair in her common room, with her feet propped up on the coffee table and Crookshanks curled up in her lap. Ginny had promised to come and see her after her last lesson of the day, and Hermione was counting the seconds until her friend arrived.

She heard a muffled voice behind the portrait before it opened and Vincent Crabbe entered the room. Going against her instincts to frown, she smiled and waved at the Slytherin. "Looking for Blaise?"

"Yeah," said Crabbe, scanning the room. "Is he in his room?"

Hermione shook her head "No, I haven't seen him all day." She paused and considered the situation for a moment before asking, "Do you want to wait for him?"

"Fuck off, Mudblood, you can't infect all of us," he said.

Hermione frowned and pushed Crookshanks off her lap in order to stand up. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Crabbe grunted and took a few steps further into the room. "You got to Blaise, and now Draco's saying that we should all _try to get along_. You won't get all of us."

"Get out of here," said Hermione, pointing her finger at the doorway. "You can wait for Blaise outside, but you can't stay in here."

"Have you been fucking Blaise, Granger?" asked Crabbe, with a leering grin on his face. "Giving it out to all the Slytherin boys, so they won't pick on you anymore? Do you want me and Goyle to double team you?"

Hermione drew back her right hand and smacked Crabbe hard across his face. "You sick _bastard, _get out of here."

Crabbe narrowed his eyes and grabbed hold of Hermione's wrists and held them up, his fingers pressing very firmly into her skin. "Try that again, Granger. Are you only brave when you've got Potter or Weasley to protect you? Go on, try and fight me off."

"Get your hands off me," said Hermione, trying to pull her hands out of his tight grip. Crabbe turned her and forced her to walk a few steps backwards until she felt her back hit the wall behind her. "Let _go_ of me, Crabbe!"

"Let go of you or what?" asked Crabbe. "Are you going to frown at me until I go away? Still convinced that you can convert all the Slytherins into liking Mudbloods?" He brought her hands together and held them both to the wall with his right hand. He pressed his left forearm against her throat, hard. "_See_, we can be nasty, can't we?"

Hermione's eyes widened as Crabbe's arm pressed against her throat. She tried to draw breath, but couldn't bring any air into her lungs, her efforts only bringing a "_Cck, cck_" sound from her mouth. Tears spilled over her eyes from the pain and she tried in vain to slide out of his grasp, but couldn't move. After a full minute, she felt his arm move away from her throat and she gasped for air, breathing in deep lungfuls. She felt her hands being released and she slid down the wall to the floor, collapsing in a hysterical heap where her deep breaths were interspersed with heavy sobs.

Crabbe bent and sneered in Hermione's face. "What's the matter, Granger?"

Using every ounce of energy she could muster, Hermione tried to push the Slytherin away from her with one hand, but did not succeed in moving him at all. "Get… away… from me…" she gasped between breaths.

Crabbe smirked as the Gryffindor struggled for breath. " Oh, I'm sorry, Granger, I'm _so _sorry." Crabbe felt himself being pulled backwards. He looked up and saw Draco standing above him, looking furious.

"What the _hell_ did you do?" asked Draco, as he glared at Crabbe. He pushed his housemate out of the way and placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Seriously what the _hell_ did you do?"

Crabbe stammered, "I… I… I was just teasing her…"

"She's _terrified_!" shouted Draco and he pulled Crabbe to his feet by the lapels of his shirt. "What kind of _teasing_ were you doing?"

"I… I…" stammered Crabbe.

Draco pushed his housemate to the floor and snarled, "Get out of my sight." Crabbe scrambled to his feet and rushed out of the common room. Draco bent next to Hermione and put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok?"

Hermione took a few breaths before nodding and answering, "Yeah. He just… scared me."

"This is my fault," said Draco.

"No," said Hermione "You couldn't have…"

"I shouldn't have agreed to us trying to be friends," said Draco. "Slytherins and Gryffindors don't mix."

"Don't be a coward, Draco Malfoy" said Hermione, as she pushed herself to her feet. "For the first time in your life, you've decided to think for yourself, so don't let a Neanderthal like Crabbe push you around."

Draco rose to his feet and shook his head. "You don't know what it's like. You haven't had this stuff shoved down your throat everyday since birth."

"I'll tell you what I _do_ know," said Hermione. "How would you feel if someone walked around this school openly declaring that Blaise shouldn't be allowed to practise magic because he's black?"

"That's ridiculous," said Draco.

"And how would you feel if that person was very vocal about Blaise's skin colour and all the teachers ever did about it was dismiss it, except for one who showed fantastic favouritism towards them?" said Hermione, with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"But Blaise couldn't change being black even if he wanted to," said Draco. "He couldn't change it anymore than…"

"Any more than I could change being born to Muggle parents?" said Hermione "It's just blood, Draco. It's all just blood and it doesn't matter."

"Erm, am I interrupting some sort of clandestine tryst here?" said Blaise from the doorway.

Hermione and Draco turned their heads to see the Head Boy hovering in the doorway and looking at them oddly. Draco coughed and muttered something under his breath which Hermione couldn't hear then walked past Blaise without saying a word. Blaise looked over his shoulder and watched his friend walk away from the common room before looking back at Hermione with a bewildered expression.

"What the hell did I miss?"

* * *

Hermione lay on her bed with her copy of Asiatic Anti-Venoms open in front of her. She'd checked her neck several times and was glad that there seemed to be no signs of a bruise forming. Every time she had tried to sleep, she found herself tossing and turning and had eventually given up and decided to use her time to do some reading instead. She considered going to Madam Pomfrey for a sleeping draught, but she didn't want to miss out on any more lessons than she already had.

'_Tap, tap_.'

Hermione looked up to see what the source of the tapping sound could be. Nothing seemed to have fallen over so she returned her gaze her book.

'_Tap, tap, tap._'

She looked up again and looked at the curtained windows, then shook her head they were too high up and it was too late at night for anything to be tapping on her window.

'_Tap, tap, tap, tap._'

She slipped off her bed and crossed the room. She hesitantly pulled back the curtains and saw that Draco was on the other side on his Nimbus 2001. She unlatched the windows and pushed them open, "Was the door not a dramatic enough entrance for you?"

"I've been thinking," said Draco.

"You do know what time it is, don't you?" asked Hermione.

"Of course I know what time it is," said Draco. "But since your room looked like Blackpool Illuminations I thought you'd probably be awake."

"And it couldn't wait…"

Draco interrupted, "Just, don't talk for a minute." He paused then muttered under his breath, "If that's even possible." He sighed and took a deep breath. "I've been thinking about the stuff you said before; it made a lot of sense."

"I am really happy about that but I don't see why it couldn't wait…"

"Accio Granger's pillow!" said Draco and Hermione's pillow flew across the room and landed in his hand. He held it out behind him and arched his eyebrow. "Now you can't go to sleep until you've listened to me. Are you going to listen?"

"Give that back," said Hermione, trying to reach around the Slytherin.

Draco held out his hand and laughed as he pushed her backwards, "No it's my pillow now; you will have to lead a long pillow-less life until you stop talking."

Hermione frowned and tried using both of her arms to reach around and grab her pillow back. "It's not funny; stop messing about, you might fall."

"Oh, Granger, are you worried I might do myself an injury?"

"If you don't stop mucking about, _I'll _do you an injury."

Draco tossed Hermione's pillow back to her and smirked. "There's no talking to you when you're like this." With that he flew off and disappeared into the darkness, leaving Hermione shivering in the window.

"Git," said Hermione with a smile, and then she went to bed.

* * *

_Hermione drifted into the Great Hall. All the Prefects had gathered together in one corner of the room. Blaise waved her over and she furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what was going on._

"_We've been waiting for you," said Blaise. "We need to decorate the Great hall for the meeting."_

"_What meeting?" asked Hermione._

_All the other students laughed and Blaise patted Hermione's shoulder. "The students' meeting; of course. Get started."_

_Hermione watched the other students scatter around the room and began casting spells which caused brightly coloured bubbles to form at the ends of their wands and rise in the air. Hermione wanted to ask Harry what they were doing, but Harry had floated halfway up the wall and was sending large red and gold bubbles into the air. _

_Hermione flicked her wand and said, "Shhhhhape." Nnothing happened. _

"_You're doing it wrong," said Draco, who appeared next to her. "Like this," he said, and put the tip of his wand to hers. "Shhhhape," he said, and a pink bubble began to form at the end of their wands. _

_Hermione watched in amazement as the bubble changed shape and began to look distinctly like a love heart. She looked at Draco and smiled. "It's doing it properly now."_

"_You just needed the right bond," said Draco. "You've never had the right bond before."_

_Hermione nodded and looked around the Great Hall. Everyone had gone. Of course they had gone, they had to go to the lake. She couldn't remember why, but she knew that that was where they had gone. "What do we do now?"_

"_Go back to your common room, of course," said Draco and began walking towards the doors._

_Hermione nodded and followed after him. They opened the doors and walked straight into Hermione's common room. "Are you disappointed that you aren't the one here with me?" she asked him._

"_I am here, I've always been here," said Draco, as he put his arms around Hermione's waist. _

_He was right; he'd always been there. She didn't know why she'd thought otherwise. "I'm glad we aren't fighting anymore."_

"_I enjoy our fights," said Draco, then he kissed her. _

_Hermione wrapped her arms around the Slytherin and held on tightly. She felt like he would slip away at any moment, but he wouldn't if she kept kissing him. _

'Knock, knock.'

_Hermione squeezed her eyes more tightly closed and ignored the knocking sound; it didn't matter, the knock wasn't important. _

'Knock, knock.'

"Hermione!"

_Blaise was calling her from the lake, but she didn't want to go to the lake, she wanted to stay there with Draco and his warm arms around her. _

"Hermione!"

Hermione opened her eyes. Her own arms were tightly wrapped around her body. She looked up and saw that Blaise was standing above her; she gasped and quickly pulled her covers around herself.

"Bloody hell, you sleep like the dead," said Blaise as he put a mug of tea on her bedside table, along with a plate of toast. "You weren't at breakfast; I wasn't sure if you were going to go back to lessons today or not…"

"_Shit_," said Hermione. "I was having a really vivid dream; what time is it?"

"Relax you've got about twenty minutes to have something to eat and get dressed," he said "By the way, did you go down to our common room last night, after I went to bed?"

Hermione shook her head and grabbed the mug of tea on her bedside table. "No, I was in here all night. Why?"

"Well, it's the weirdest thing," said Blaise. "I think it might be a prank or something because when I went down there this morning the floor was literally covered in pillows."

Hermione smiled. "Must have been a prank."

* * *

**Authors note:**

**Crabbe's choking hold on Hermione happened to me in real life, it was utterly terrifying.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Hermione tracked Ginny down at lunch time and dragged her to the court yard, with a great amount of protest from the female Weasley. She pushed Ginny into sitting down on one of the benches and then sat next to her. "Look, we can go get our lunch in a bit, but I needed to talk to you, now and away from prying ears."

"I swear, Hermione if this is about Blaise Zabini and his never ending bonk-a-thon, then I'll be forced to hurt you with sharp implements" said Ginny. "I can only take so much."

"It's not about him," said Hermione. "I had a really vivid sex dream last night and I can't stop thinking about it."

Ginny shoved her fingers in her ears. "LA, LA, LA, LA, LA! I can't hear you! I don't want to know about my brother doing anything, even if it was only in your subconscious."

Hermione pulled Ginny's fingers out of her ears and shook her head. "It wasn't about Ron."

"Why not?" asked Ginny. "Isn't my brother good enough for you anymore?"

"Ginny, for Merlin's sake, will you just listen? I really need to talk to someone about this," said Hermione.

Ginny sighed. "All right, but if it's about Harry…"

"It wasn't about Harry, either," said Hermione. "It was about Malfoy."

"Malfoy? Suddenly I feel like I never need to eat again," said Ginny. "I am intrigued, you may continue."

"Well it wasn't actually a _sex_ dream," said Hermione.

"If you've sold me on a false subconscious occurrence…"

"It was kissing," said Hermione. "A lot of kissing."

Ginny frowned. "Is that it? Bloody hell, Hermione, I've had saucier dreams about Snape. Well, not Snape, exactly, he was there but he wasn't involved; well, he kept making daisy chains and was draping them around the bed…"

"_Ginny!_"

"Sorry, you were having a dull dream about Malfoy, continue," said Ginny.

Hermione explained, "It was weird, there was something about decorating the Great Hall and Malfoy was helping me and our wands kept making love hearts, then everyone else disappeared and we went back to my common room and started kissing. Then Blaise woke me up."

"Oh, you've got morning wake up calls from Zabini, now?" said Ginny with a grin. "I am both appalled and slightly jealous."

"Ginny, I can't stop thinking about Malfoy," said Hermione. "What should I do? Should I tell Harry? I mean, I know it was only a dream, but I keep thinking I should tell him that I might be interested in Malfoy. I don't know, it would feel like I'm betraying him, otherwise."

Ginny looked at Hermione and pointed in the direction of the Great Hall. "Alright, go and tell Harry."

Hermione nodded her head and stood up. "Yeah, you're right. I'll go talk to him."

"Sit down!" said Ginny. "Are you an idiot? If it's the last thing you do, don't tell Harry that you've been having sexy dreams about his arch enemy."

* * *

Hermione left Ginny with the conclusion that the dream was nothing more than the after effects of being stuck underneath a bookcase with the Slytherin and it would wash out of her system in a few days. She would have merrily continued to her Charms lesson with no further thoughts about Draco Malfoy, if she hadn't had her arm almost yanked out of its socket as he grabbed her and pulled her into a curtained alcove.

"What are you…" Hermione began to ask but she was cut off as Draco pushed his mouth against hers and suddenly all thoughts of Charms went out of her head. She felt one of Draco's arms wrap around her waist and the other hand slipped around the back of her neck. Hermione had no time to think about either action, as she was far more concerned about her own arms slipping around his neck, pulling him closer.

After several soft but small kisses, Hermione realised that her lips were parting further and their tongues had begun to push against one another's. She could feel a moan crawling slowly up her throat. She held it back for as long as she could, but eventually, she couldn't hold it back any longer and she moaned into his mouth.

He pulled back and looked at Hermione; his eyes looking for something, but she couldn't tell what. He took a step backwards and Hermione's arms slipped from around his neck. "I have a confession," he said. "Last night, I put something on your pillow."

Hermione felt anger bubble in her stomach and she rested the urge to punch him. "What did you do?"

He pulled a vial of pink coloured liquid from his pocket. Hermione could see swirls of gold in the liquid as he handed it to her. "It's called Lié rêve; it was only a few drops, but that's all you need."

"What does it do?" asked Hermione, digging her nails into the palm of her hand.

"It links dreams, temporarily," he said. "For a brief time, you enter the other person's dream and experience what they experience."

Hermione pursed her lips. "So last night, you were there in my dream."

"Yes," said Draco.

"And that's why I had that dream?" asked Hermione.

"Yes."

"Why?" she said. "Why would you do that? If you wanted to kiss me that badly, you didn't have to invade my subconscious to do it, as you've just proved."

"What are you talking about?" asked Draco. "There wasn't any kissing."

"Don't be an idiot," said Hermione. "The bit in the dream when we went back to the common room."

Draco shook his head. "That didn't happen, I woke up just after we started making those, er, balloons, the ones shaped like, well, you know."

Hermione looked at him with confusion. "Wait, wait, why did you just drag me in here?"

"Well, because of the, um," -he swallowed- "the love hearts. I thought they meant that you had maybe started to like me, like I've started liking you, and I admit I was too much of a coward to just ask you so I used the potion. I didn't think it would come to anything, but when I saw you walking down the corridor, I thought, well, I thought if I didn't kiss you then, I might never have the guts to do it. What happened in the common room?"

"Nothing," said Hermione and she pocketed the potion. "Promise me you'll never do anything like that again."

"I promise," said Draco.

Hermione flung her arms around his neck and began kissing him again.

* * *

"Stop it," said Hermione, shuffling away from Draco on the sofa.

Draco shuffled along with her and resumed his previous action of running his fingertips across the back of Hermione's neck. "I'm not doing anything."

"I can't concentrate with you fingering me," said Hermione, rolling her eyes as Draco sniggered at her comment. "I've got to do this Potions homework or Snape will have me chained up in the dungeons."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing," said Draco, arching his eyebrow.

"_Draco,_" Hermione warned.

"Ok, I'll stop," said Draco, shuffling back to his previous seat. "But if I _were_ fingering you, you'd know about it."

Hermione looked at Draco. "You know, just because I don't find kissing you repulsive, it doesn't give you an open access pass to use smutty innuendo every time we're together."

"Well, maybe if you didn't sit there tempting me with your feminine wiles, I would behave myself," said Draco.

Hermione slammed her text book shut and tossed it onto the coffee table. "If I give you five minutes will you behave until I have finished my homework?"

Draco made a cross sign over his heart. "Wizard Scout's honour."

"I don't believe for a second you were a Wizard Scout," said Hermione.

"I could show you my merit badges…" Draco was cut off by Hermione placing a finger to his lips. He grinned and began kissing her.

Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's neck. Since the day Draco had dragged her into that alcove, they had begun a secret relationship, of sorts. It had been going on for a couple of weeks and they had thusfar managed to hide from everyone but Blaise, who had walked into the common room and found them kissing, which had almost made him keel over. Draco had had to give Blaise three glasses of Firewhisky before Blaise was calm enough to listen to their explanation, although Hermione had suspected he hadn't needed three _full_ glasses to actually cope with it. Blaise had said that he'd thought their lack of arguing was due to some sort of truce but had never imagined that they had begun to like each other. He'd drunk another glass of Firewhisky then went to bed and refused to speak to either one of them for two days. Blaise's reaction had been the marker; Hermione had decided against telling her friends that anything was going on with her and Draco until it had become absolutely necessary and Draco had agreed. Thus far, the arrangement was working for them.

Hermione felt Draco's fingertips brush over her stomach at the end of her blouse and she gave the hair at the nape of his neck a sharp tug. His hand seemed to ignore the hair tug, as it soon began travelling up her blouse, making its way to her breast where his fingers cupped her and squeezed. She gasped and began to wriggle free of his hold. "Stop," she said.

Draco's weight suddenly vanished from on top of her and she saw him being dragged off the sofa and thrown to the floor by a murderous looking Ron. Hermione pulled her blouse down and gasped as Ron punched Draco square on the jaw.

"OW!" shouted Draco, grabbing his jaw. "Bloody hell, Granger, do they write the password for this common room on the wall outside?"

Ron shouted at Draco, "Get away from her you… you…. _Rapist!_"

Hermione leapt off the sofa and put herself in-between Ron and Draco. "Ron, don't hit him."

"Yeah," said Draco, rubbing his jaw. "Bad, Weasley. Piss off and go sniff Potter's arse or something."

Ron tried to reach Draco again but found Hermione pushing him away. "Hermione, why are you defending him? He was trying to rape you!"

"Oi," said Draco, pointing his finger at Ron. "There's a very big difference between trying to cop a feel and trying to rape someone; I'd prefer it if you stopped accusing me of the latter, Weaselbee."

"_Shut up_," said Hermione, glaring at Draco. "Ron, he wasn't doing anything to me."

"LIES!" shouted Ron. "I saw him, he had his… hands… his slimy _Slytherin_ hands in places… in places where they never should be!"

"Ron, if you'll just calm down for a minute," said Hermione, holding her hands up try and calm down her friend.

"What's going on in here?" asked Harry from the doorway, seconds before he walked into the room. "Hermione, is everything ok?"

"Great!" declared Draco, still holding his jaw. "Potter's here, the trio of do-goodness and extreme reactions is finally complete."

"Hands!" shouted Ron. "His hands, Harry, all over Hermione, doing… awful… unthinkable things to her!"

"What did he do to you, Hermione?" asked Harry, as he drew his wand and began marching straight toward Draco. "I'll hex him into oblivion for you."

"No, Harry, stop!" said Hermione, moving to intercept Harry, which unfortunately left Ron free to leapt on the Slytherin, knocking them both to the ground where they started scuffling with arms and legs flailing everywhere. "Ron, get off him! Harry he didn't do anything, help me, someone!"

"Miss Granger, you aren't supposed to leave your common room door wide open," said Professor Snape from the doorway. "What is going on in here?"

Hermione swore under her breath and threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "An unrelenting display of testosterone, Professor."

* * *

Professor Snape marched back and forth across the floor of his office, behind the line of students who were all facing forward. Hermione had tried to explain the situation as the Potions Master had dragged Harry and Ron to his office with Draco traipsing behind and rolling his eyes every time Ron had pointed his finger at him and shouted "HANDS!" at the top of his voice.

"So, let me see if I have a correct grasp of the situation," said Professor Snape. "Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy, for reasons which are unclear to all present, have been impressing their hormonal urges upon one another for a number of weeks. Mr. Weasley walked in and, shall we say, misread the situation and proceeded to overact in a way that is unique to Gryffindor students, whereupon Mr. Potter, hearing the noise, also entered the situation, but did not participate in the physical aspect of things."

"That's about the shape of it, Professor," said Draco.

"And Miss Granger was actually a willing participant in whatever Mr Malfoy was _doing_ to her?" asked Professor Snape.

"She said 'stop,' Sir," said Ron. "I specifically heard her say, 'stop'."

Snape sighed. "Did you actually give Mr. Malfoy a chance to stop, before you decided that Miss Granger needed _rescuing_, Mr. Weasley?"

"You didn't see where his hands were, Professor," said Ron.

"In places you'll never see, Weasley" muttered Draco.

"Neither will you, if you don't shut up," said Hermione.

"All of you can shut up," said Professor Snape. "Weasley, Potter, do you agree that despite how _ill advised_ you may feel Miss Granger's choice of suitor is, that it is, in fact, her business?"

"No," said Ron and Harry, simultaneously.

Harry continued, "He's a _git,_ sir."

"The _king_ of gits," said Ron.

Snape smacked Ron and Harry on the backs of their heads. "You're both imbeciles."

Ron cringed and rubbed the back of his head. "_He's_ the one that's always going on about blood purity and how poor my family is."

"It's hardly Mr. Malfoy's fault if your family decides to have more children than they can afford," said Professor Snape. "And it seems as though Mr. Malfoy may have come to a different opinion on the matter of blood purity. Perhaps you can learn by his example and consider the situation in the detentions you'll be in for the next week."

"Professor…" began Harry.

"Get out, all of you. I have better things to do with my time," said Snape and he pointed to his office door, which the four students soon filed out of.

* * *

Hermione lay on her bed with her face buried in her pillow, as Draco patted her shoulder and tried to comfort her. "They'll come round," he assured her.

Hermione turned her head and frowned at Draco. "They're both more stubborn than you can imagine; I don't think they're going to concede on this one."

"They're your best friends," said Draco. "Once they come to terms with it, they'll realise how stupid they've been and they won't hate you anymore."

"That's easy for you to say," said Hermione. "You're used to them hating you."

"Yes, but if I can win you over with my charm, wit and good looks…"

"And modesty," Hermione interjected.

"Modesty is very important" he said with a smirk. "My point is, that they'll eventually realise that all that's important is making you happy."

"When did you start being so level-headed?" asked Hermione, slipping her hand into his.

Draco squeezed Hermione's fingers. "Oh, about the time you started being so unlevel-headed. It would be scary if we were both level-headed all the time. Scary and unnatural." He brushed some of her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear, then slid down on the bed to lay next to her.

"Are we being just being crazy and selfish?" she asked, as he slipped his arm around her waist.

"Yes," he said and kissed her.

Hermione wasn't sure how long they spent with their arms wrapped around one another, but soon she felt his hands moving to her waist, his fingers slipping just underneath the material of her top, caressing her skin. She didn't feel the panic she had felt in the common room, nor the hesitation; just the urgency and passion in his kisses as his fingers made little circles on her skin.

She shuddered, there was a pause as Draco pulled back and looked into her eyes. After a few moments she nodded and he peeled off his shirt, then hers. He began placing soft butterfly kisses down the column of her neck. Hermione arched her back and gave a small moan of approval. He made a line of kisses from her chest to her navel, each slow and lingering, driving her mad with anticipation as he finally reached the line of her skirt.

"We, er…" he said. "We can keep it at this for now, if you like. We don't have to go any further than you want to."

Hermione gave him a coy smile. "Maybe we could go a little further."

For most of the night, Draco kept Hermione pressed to him. Her bra was removed and tossed to one side and Draco was happy to just experience the feeling of her naked breasts pressed against his flesh. Her small hands slid over his chest and she placed warm kisses across his stomach, he rubbed his thumb across the dense mounds of her breasts, briefly daring to flick his tongue over them as she moaned and writhed beneath him.

Eventually they fell asleep, arms wrapped tightly across one another's naked torsos, legs intertwined and Hermione's head resting against his chest, happily listening to his heart beat.

When Hermione awoke the next morning, sunlight streaming through her windows, it seemed like it would be a good day. Draco lay asleep next to her, his arm still protectively wrapped around her waist, holding her close to him. She closed her eyes again and nuzzled her nose into his neck, taking pleasure in the warmth of his body.

She'd talk to Harry and Ron. She didn't expect them to come around straight away, but she knew they would eventually. The year wasn't half over and there was plenty of time for worrying about her friends learning to get along with Draco. She didn't know how long things would last, she didn't know if he'd make her the happiest she'd ever been or if he'd break her heart, but in that moment, she was content. The sun would shine and she'd go to her lessons. The dinner table would be noisy and Professor Snape would be horrible. Life would continue as normal but for a few more minutes, she wanted to enjoy listening to the sound of a heart she had never thought was there, a heart which she hoped would be hers.

* * *

**Authors Note:**

**I know this story is very, very short but it was written for a fix exchange and I didn't have much time. What I might do in the future is come back and do the extended version of this story, imagine this is the highlights version of a novel length fic. **

**If you enjoyed, or even if you didn't, please consider leaving me a comment and letting me know what you thought.  
**


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